Outraged community mourns 'Annie,' euthanized deer

 

UPDATE: The officer involved in the incident has been removed from the department. 

ORIGINAL STORY:

LAWRENCE, Mich. -- Captured on video, a Pokagon Band tribal officer is seen killing a deer outside a home in Lawrence, Friday.

“They came to my son's property with a warrant for child support and were there to pick him up," said Pamela Babb, who lives next door to her son’s home.

The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office confirmed they had an arrest warrant for a “fugitive.”

A Pokagon band was there to assist, since they are technically deputized in the county.

"He then saw our deer and said that she was domesticated and needed to be put down," Babb said.

The deer in question is affectionately named “Annie,” and Babb said her sister found Annie on the side of the road next to her deceased mother. She said they tried to give her to a rescue organization that was out of room to take her in, so they took her home.

"Gave us goat's milk, and bottles, and told us we could try it and she may or may not make it,” Babb said. “She made it. And she became the community's deer."

But on Friday, Babb and her family were helpless to stop the officer, who wrangled Annie to the ground and eventually shot the deer at point blank range.

"This was totally and completely wrong. There was no reason whatsoever for that deer to have to be put down, like that anyway,” Babb said. “Never to be put down like that, but not to put down at all. She was fine. She didn't hurt anybody, she loved people, played with them, visited them on a daily basis."

The shooting left the family that witnessed it traumatized.

"At [that] point, I feel any officer in their right mind would've asked one of the many other officers standing there to maybe escort the family back away from the situation, or maybe take the deer, Annie, elsewhere and do what you need to do, rather than doing it right in front of them," said family friend Theresa Shriver, who also witnessed what happened.

"They were here to get a person, suspect. They got the suspect,” said neighbor Amanda Beck. “Did they really have to handle the deer the way they did? It was unprofessional. They weren't even five feet away from a family with children.”

For some, Annie was more than a wild animal. And for one family, she was a blessing from above.

"Sitting there all by myself at the house, in a chair, mourning. Lost my husband, and the house being burnt down that he'd built for us. And the sudden this snort comes over my shoulder and there she was,” said neighbor Robyn Gardner. “She spent the day with us. I cleaned out the house, just letting me know everything was going to be okay. Giving us hope."

That kind of behavior was common for Annie, and welcomed across the community, according to Babb.

"She goes to everyone's houses, the flea markets, the stories, the apartments, the schools, the gas stations, people's farms," she said.

Now, the neighbors involved want justice for Annie, and started a Facebook page of memories. They are also calling for the officer responsible to face consequences.

"This was undeserving and that man was very, very rude, very mean, he is not personable,” Babb said, referring to the officer that euthanized Annie. “Yes, he was laughing by his trailer when him and an officer were putting Annie in the trailer."

That officer is on administrative leave while the Pokagon Tribal Police investigate the matter. In a statement, the Tribal Police Chief, Mario RedLegs, said tribal police were “assisting Van Buren law enforcement and consulted with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.”

Pokagon Tribal Police have declined ABC57’s requests for an on-camera interview.

The Van Buren Sheriff’s Office says they had "nothing to do" with this incident—just the arrest beforehand. However, at least one officer appeared to be on scene as Annie was euthanized.

ABC57 also reached out to the Michigan DNR to ask why euthanasia would be appropriate and are still awaiting a response.